Growing up among a family of builders, there was always the opportunity to wreck things. Before side-stepping into building houses, my brother specialised in demolition. I never really accompanied him on any of these wrecking jobs, but I'd see him knocking stuff down for my dad around the farm every now and then. My greatest memory of his destructive tendencies involved my first bike, which he drove over with his JCB when I made the mistake of leaving it in the yard. My sister carried it back into the house and held it up to show me what had happened... but it wasn't until she turned it side on that I realised it was flat.
My dad was a joiner by trade, but he could turn his hand to most jobs. He built sheds, turned our old barn into the house my Mum still lives in today, and single-handedly wood-panelled the house I grew up in to within an inch of its life. Wood panelling was very big back in the 70s, especially if you were a joiner. There was always some DIY project ongoing, despite the fact he had a full time job at the car auctions and also managed the farm.
I do have one specific memory of a demolition job that I got involved in, and this was when I was very young... maybe 4 or 5. There was a wall down the side of the staircase that my dad had started knocking down so that he could make the small sitting room a bit more open plan. This was an old farmhouse, so all the walls were built of stone - no plasterboard when that place was built. Removing the wall was taking him some time (in between all his other jobs), but one morning he and my Mum woke up very early to the sound of hammering... only to discover me sitting on the stairs with a lump hammer in my hand, cheerfully knocking out the bricks. I guess I wanted to be like my dad...
This week, JC, the Vinyl Villain, is back with another timely Top Ten. He wrote this one a few weeks back, but I still think it's relevant. Yes, they may be easing those lockdown restrictions, but most of us still feel like prisoners, maybe enjoying day release from time to time, but with the ever-present threat of going back into solitary confinement very soon. Anyway, it's another great list of songs from the Blogfather himself. Take it away, JC...
It really does feel that the lockdown and the various restrictions have been with us forever, but as I read on some wag's social media account the other day, we are still only around half the time that Bryan Adams had a terrible song at #1 back in 1991.
Here's ten songs whose titles kind of sum up my mood in recent weeks.
Surely there's nobody out there who will disagree? The way we go about earning a living, especially for those who spend their time in offices, has been transformed beyond recognition and an increasing move to more home-working, post COVID-19, does seem likely. The knock-on effects on the sustainability of town and city centres, which were already under threat from changing ways that we undertake retail therapy, will be significant.
OK, so some of the initial restrictions are being eased, but if the scientists are right with their predictions, then we will likely have to revert to the draconian state of affairs when the second wave of the pandemic comes swooping across the UK.
I wasn't paying too much attention to what was going on outside of my own city of Glasgow, but it was utterly surreal to go online and look at images of totally deserted streets which would normally be thronged with workers, shoppers and folk out socialising and having a good time. The picture that will long stick in my memory is that of a wild deer strolling care-free outside the entrance of our largest shopping centre.
No matter how frustrating it is to be stuck indoors for much of the time, especially during such an extended period of dry and hot weather, unable to have any real social interaction with family, friends and loved ones, the advice is there for the benefit of us all and reflects that a collective effort is required to get us through the worst of times. It does appear, for various, if understandable reasons (see #2 above) that more and more folk are breaking free. It's probably best that everyone follows the advice in the next song title...
Malcolm almost got two entries in this list. 'Blue Plastic Bags', written in 2008, has the chorus to end all choruses just now - 'Staying in is the new going out'.
OK, it's a tad obvious. Dedicated to the essential workers, and not just in the NHS and Care Homes. If you're a hedge fund manager or an investment banker, then don't you ever dare tell me again that what you do is important and without which our economy and society would collapse.
I took early retirement from my job on Friday 27 March, an event that had been long in the pipeline. All sorts of plans were in place to travel and do things I'd long dreamed of. Everything is on hold and I've found that there are only so many books to be read or re-read, television boxsets to be devoured and old albums dusted down to be listened to before frustration and angst settles in.
No apologies for finishing off with two songs together. The President has been an abject failure in his handling of the COVID-19 crisis which is now being exacerbated by his responses to the protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. Everyone is entitled to be angry, but it really is worth clinging to the words of hope in this, sadly still highly relevant, civil rights anthem from the 60s.
There've been times that I thought
I couldn't last for long
But now I'm able to carry on
It's been a long time coming
But I know
A change gonna come
Oh, yes it will
And on that day, there will be a collective rendition of Hallelujah.
JC
Thank you, JC. I don't think anyone could argue with any of your choices there. It's an honour to have you guest again... ...but now, the doors are open to everyone else. As it stands, I don't have any more guest posts lined up (not even Lynchie's Jerry Hall story), so the future of Guest Post Thursday is in your hands. Do you have a Top Ten, a story to tell, a Grumpy Old Man (or Woman) Song, a Positive Song For Negative Times or even a Mid-Life Crisis tune? Email me if you do. I'll try to remember to leave my email address in the comments section, but if I don't, shout at me really loudly.
I realise there were a bunch of other 7 bands I could have chosen to illustrate what's shaping up to be the biggest edition of this countdown to date. Bands like...
(I've never heard of them before either, but Jim in Dubai is a fan. I honestly had to check the lead singer wasn't a young Simon Cowell.)
However, I always had a lot of time for Shed Seven, or "what Oasis might have been if they hadn't been a bunch of absolute Aresholes" as I like to think of them. They put out a bunch of cracking Britpop singles, never took themselves too seriously, and always put on a good live show.
Here's a Positive Song For Negative Times from them...
And now on with the show, which will, by necessity, be a lot of your tunes and very little of me talking this week, if I'm to have a cat in hell's chance of getting through all the 7 songs you suggested.
(Update: well, that didn't happen, did it?)
At least The Swede got his artists and titles the right way around this week...
Day off today and up late, yet still the first one in!
I know, it's like they all have better things to do first thing on a Tuesday morning, isn't it? But what could be better than this? Anyway, on you go, Swede...
Lynchie recalled: I met the prog rock band Egg at a bed & breakfast place in Dundee sometime around 1970 if memory serves me well. Can't say I was a fan.
George wondered: Of Dundee or Egg?
Lynchie replied: Both!
I used to write ads for the radio station in Dundee. Never got the opportunity to visit.
Well, it's definitely the best thing Neneh Cherry ever put her name to.
Oh wait, here's Alyson again...
My pick would be Youssou N'Dour/Neneh Cherry though with 7 Seconds as wrote about it recently so found out so much more of the back story - Again, don't include this bit, but here is a cut and paste:
Sorry Alyson, I need something to break up the endless list, so you're subbed.
'7 Seconds is apparently about the first positive 7 seconds in the life of a newborn child, a child who does not know about the problems and violence in our world. Three different languages were used in the song: English, French and Wolof, which is a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania.'
See. That was far more interesting than just another boring list, wasn't it?
You sure about that, Douglas? My research says it was written by Elvis & Jimmy. And I pulled the Deluxe Edition of Blood & Chocolate off the shelf to check. That would have been my choice, anyway.
I have a lot of time for Guy Garvey, but I know I didn't spend enough time on that last album. That's lovely.
Alyson, meanwhile, is still worrying about appearing cool. Listen, Alyson, Martin proudly suggested Sting, so you've got nothing to worry about!
My hard drive obviously comes from Planet Uncool as very little overlap with the above choices at all. Other than Love and Youssou N'Dour, I have the following:
Pretty sure I'm going to irk a lot of musos with that lot.
Like I said, Martin too that crown this week. And it's not like you suggested Ken Dodd again, is it?
And, as a 7 band, my hard drive is littered with material by those giants of pre-teen pop S Club 7 as my daughter was just the right age for them at the turn of the millennium.
Surprised that hasn't come up yet. Graham Fellows (Or Jilted John as some people may know him better as)- Seven Pints & a Suicide
Or John Shuttleworth, adds Rigid Digit, a truly right thinking man if ever there was one. Who else could impart the panic and shock of opening the fridge and findings two margarines on the go.
I woke up this morning with the riff from 7 Reasons by Revenge running in my head, the best New Order song not by New order.
Back to Doug in Canada...
Okay, this time I am still late, and despite the whopper load of songs already listed, I see there are a few left to nab! I would of course have taken R.E.M, myself, but on the philosophy that they can't win two weeks in a row (can they?) I am glad my second favourite choice of all 7 songs is still available, so here goes:
More like it. Mr. Gedge has far more chance around here than Mr. LeBon.
Audience--Seven Sore Bruises
That actually has featured here before, even though it's not the far superior Sophie Ellis Bextor band. Unfortunately, the version on youtube appears to have been hacked by the Russians, possibly as a revenge attack for The Scorpions. (See Sunday's post if you don't know what I mean. Do keep up.)
(Speaking of Ms. Ellis-Bextor... this was obviously a b-side...
Boy, talk about left with the scraps! I was going to wow you with Wah! Heat's Seven Minutes To Midnight,and that has already been mentioned at least twice! All of the best ones are taken, and even most of my songs from the B squad are already here. Time for the C squad:
And finally comes Alyson, with some sage advice...
Think you're going to have to trim this list down, probably...
I'm trying to avoid trimming at this late stage... much as I may live to regret that decision in the remaining weeks. ...but as is tradition I will throw in an oldie for sake of completeness:
I'm guessing that's a different Paul Evans, though I stand to be corrected.
Good luck with getting through that little lot above (no pressure remember to deliver every week).
Good job too, considering how I failed to get through all this last week.
All of which leaves me with only the scrapings from my own hard-drive... but I may whittle that list down a little for my sanity this week. Lots of 7" mixes I had to skip past while searching through these.
However... when I began this countdown, approximately 77 years ago, I knew immediately what number 7 would be on the Hot 100. Just as I've known all along what #1 will be.
Looking up at the list above me now, I can see a number of tracks I might pick instead of this one... some truly excellent tunes that I couldn't be without. But this is what I'm going with, as suggested by The Swede, because... erm... I don't really know why. But it's Prince, and that'll do nicely.
Plus the video is absolutely bonkers...
Only half a dozen to go. And so, as George once sang... I Want Your Six!
Dubai Jim went down the band route and suggested The Mai 68s with Totality For Kids, which is definitely worth a click, particularly as it seems to come from an album called Some Hearts Are Paid To Die.
Martin once again offered a couple of tracks he wasn't that into... Pink Floyd - Summer '68 and Chicago - Questions 67 & 68... before settling on the obvious choice. Saves me the job of suggesting those two as they were both in my library.
Rigid Digit also offered Blink 182 - 6/8... which I might have to save for My Top Ten Time Signature Songs... if I ever do that.
All fine tunes, but most everyone agreed that there could only be one winner this week. As C put it, "all other possible suggestions have been completely obscured from view by their hair".
This is the second and probably final appearance by The Alarm in this countdown. Wonderfully awful video for your enjoyment too...
67 next week. Nothing as obvious as our last two entries... unless you know different.
I did quite like that back in 2001 - enough to swipe it from the chuck-out box, anyway - but listening back it all seems very polished and I don't particularly take to Mayer's voice anymore. Plus, Mayer appears to be a bit of a dick, having given some supremely dodgy interviews in his day. And obviously, I will not stand behind any artist who says stupid, inflammatory things in interviews.
The Swede dropped by to offer Magdalena 83 by Alan Vega - which I'm sure is pretty good since I do like a bit of Suicide every now and then... but as I couldn't find it anywhere on t'internet, and it doesn't (yet) feature in my record collection, I had to give it a pass.
Martin suggested Wafia - 83 Days, which to be fair he caveated with "don't like very much" (alongside John Mayer... which made me question the darker crevices of Martin's record collection as much as I sometimes do my own) but then he redeemed himself slightly by offering Major Tom (Coming Home) by German Bowie obsessive Peter Schilling. That doesn't actually mention 83 at all in title or lyrics, but Martin offered the following defence: "(a) it was used as the theme for the excellent Deutschland 83 and (b) is actually quite good", which would generally be enough for me... although I haven't seen the show myself.
The only other song I'm aware of with 83 in the title comes from the soundtrack of Flashdance... but it's hardly What A Feeling!
All of which led me to search for lyrical references to the number 83, most of which revolved around the year... but rules are meant to be broken in times of desperation. So, here's My Top Ten 83 Songs... leading up to this week's winner:
It was summertime in '83 We were burnin' out at the rubber tree Wonderin' what in the world Would make all this worthwhile And if I knew then I was older then Would I see regret to the last mile?
It was back in the summer of '83 There's a reason I remember it well I was slipping and sliding, drinkin' and drivin' Bringin' me closer to Hell
And the Devil sat in the passenger's side Of Delorean's automobile He said, "Hey Frehley, Frehley let's not be silly There's a life out there to steal!"
I got a couple of rods; they got tape where they broke I got a bobber, some sinkers and two packs of smokes I got the sun goin' down and the moon comin' out And it's 83 degrees and I'm pissin' in the river
Well, it's a fiddler from Kentucky Who swears he's 83 And he's fiddled every contest From here to Cripple Creek And it's old ones and it's young ones And it's plain they half agreed That it's country music in the park As far as they can see
You were standing next to me, In '82 and '83, In all that time I barely proved I love you Well there's nothing wrong but the wrong in me You were everything you were meant to be
Well my body sank below the ground It became as black as night, Overhead the sounds of horses hooves, People fighting for their lives. Some joker in a headband was still Getting chicks for free. And Big Brother was still watching you Back in the days of '83.
1. Amy Rigby - The Summer of My Wasted Youth
Summertime in '83 I didn't need a j-o-b Cause unemployment kept me free To study country harmony And find somebody with a car Drink cheap beer in the Polish bar Take photos in the photo booth The summer of my wasted youth
So, lyrics will be allowed for 82... as will years. Unless you have an amazing title suggestion. These are the toughest numbers. They will get easier.
It could be argued that the opening of Rush's Spirit Of Radio features a guitar that sounds like a radio being retuned... but I'm saving that Canadian classic for a future edition of Radio Songs. In the meantime, here are ten songs that actually begin with the sound of a radio dial being retuned. Some have featured here before, but not for that reason.
With the advent of digital radio, tuning round the dial is becoming a thing of the past in the same way that tuning in your TV channels has. Kids these days don't know what they're missing...
Still one of the greatest pop songs ever recorded (I know I say that a lot - but there are lots of them): I'm only putting it at #10 because it's featured here many times before.
Mr. Blue Sky has something of an identity crisis though. It begins with a radio dial tuning into a weather forecast... but ends with a request to "please turn me over", which suggests it knew it was just a record all along.
Whereas Joey and the gang tune around the dial until they find a radio station that plays it like they used to...
This is rock 'n' roll radio - come on, let's rock 'n' roll with the Ramones!
1. Dexys Midnight Runners - Burn It Down
Originally released under the title Dance Stance, this was Dexys' first 7" single. It was re-recorded and rechristened Burn It Down as the opening track to their 1980 debut album Searching For The Young Soul Rebels.
The record begins with 50 seconds of the band tuning around the radio dial, hearing snippets of Deep Purple, the Sex Pistols and the Specials amid the shipping forecasts and brass bands, before Rowland turns off the radio and shouts to Big Jim Paterson, "For god's sake, burn it down!"
So I had an idea for a series of sporadic posts about specific years. Not songs that were released in that year but songs that directly referred to it. Should keep me busy until at least... oh, say, 2525?
Anyway, I thought I'd start with the year that Eminem, Ben Affleck, Cameron Diaz, Karl Urban, The Rock, Biggie Smalls, Jennifer Garner, Brad Paisley, Idris Elba, Liam Gallagher, Gwyneth Paltrow and Billie Joe Armstrong were born. Oh, and yours truly. A lot of the time these days, I feel very old. But if I'm only as old as those guys... actually, I don't feel too bad about it.
1972 was the year of Watergate, terrorism at the Munich Olympics, and Atari's first video game: Pong. Just in case you're older than me and you remember such things first hand.
Oh, and it was also the year the UK signed The European Communities Act, which allowed us to join the EU the following year... whatever happened to that?
Oh, and James Moyer Franks... or Jimmy Pop, if you prefer... was also born in 1972. Although he's made a career out of acting like he was always born exactly 14 years ago, no matter what it says on his birth certificate or the calendar. As evidence, I submit the fact that this is from an album called Hooray For Boobies. As always, I make no apologies for liking The Bloodhound Gang. They keep me in touch with my inner juvenile delinquent.
One thousand nine hundred and seventy-two: That's the year I got here, when my dear mother's water blew. Not really realizin' the prize that's been begot to her The bona fide lo-fi high-octane philosopher. Genius with a penis, the few, the proud, the me I liked me so much I had to buy the company...
Conclusions you drew, proportions you blew: Lost son of Iggy? False bigger nose than Ziggy? True! Yes my name is Jimmy Pop; no, my pop's name is Dick. Don't admit to kick it slick you thick, derelict critic Put down for missed notes, put up with misquotes. Don't want the whole story? Should have bought the Cliff Notes!
But Jimmy Pop isn't the only one to associate 1972 with Ziggy...
Hey, I remember you back in '72 With your David Bowie hair and your platform shoes You had a part-time job, selling fast food But out on the street you were nobody's fool!
From Ben Folds' 2012 reunion with the other two members of his Five, here we find him remembering an old school friend who he first met in '72 (Ben would have been 6). When he meets him again 24 years later, both their circumstances have changed drastically. It's a meditation on the strange way we connect to people, then lose touch, and sometimes reconnect with very different people years later... told with Folds' typically witty lyrical detail.
A timely illustration of the class and generational divide that should, perhaps, be required listening for anyone blaming the baby boomers for recent ridiculous political decisions in the UK. One of many stand out tracks from the album If You're Feeling Sinister, it begins with Stuart Murdoch reflecting on everything that stops him being close friends with this man of much higher standing... although he soon ends up feeling sorry for him.
Now he is swapping his tent for a sheltered home He doesn't have a family, and he is living alone He remembers all the punks and the hippies too And he remembers Roxy Music in '72 He doesn't understand and he doesn't try He knows there's something missing and he knows it's you and I We're the younger generation, we grew up fast All the others did drugs They're taking it out on us
This week's token contemporary country track (ah, I remember the days when all I wrote about was indie!), although Jake Owen wasn't born till '81 so it appears he's reminiscing about his father's childhood in this song. I do like a good lyrical pun though, and this one starts out with a doozy...
1972 Daddy drove in over, it was sky blue He worked at a record store after school Called it Sympathy for the Vinyl
And that's before we even get to the serious rhyming overdose that is...
We’ll be chillin' like a villain on some Dylan while we’re killin' some booze We’re gonna kick it like the kids did in 1972
Like Born In The USA, this is another Bruce song about coming home from Vietnam and finding not a lot waiting for you.
I come home in '72 You were just a beautiful light In your mama's dark eyes of blue I stood down on the tarmac, I was just a kid Me and the brothers under the bridge
Come Veterans' Day I sat in the stands in my dress blues I held your mother's hand When they passed with the red, white and blue One minute you're right there... and something slips...
Not to be confused with the '83 song Brothers Under The Bridges, a much more defiant and uptempo rocker... which doesn't appear to be set in 1972.
American poet John Berryman (whose real name features in the above title) committed suicide in 1972. Okkervil River's Will Sheff is obviously a Berryman fan - even though he wasn't born until 4 years later. The song takes a confessional and confrontational first person approach similar to Berryman's poetry...
From a bridge on Washington Avenue The year of 1972 Broke my bones and skull And it was memorable It was half a second and I was halfway down Do you think I wanted to turn back around And teach a class Where you kiss the ass that I've exposed to you?
...before segueing seamlessly into Sloop John B. (a traditional folk song from the Bahamas long before Brian Wilson got his hands on it), adding a completely new meaning to "this is the worst trip I've ever been on..." (although, to be fair, Brian probably knows a thing or two about bad trips too).
The longest song on Too-Rye-Aye is the one that points the way forward for Kevin Rowland, away from the sheer pop bombast of Come On Eileen and Jackie Wilson Says to a much more introspective and experimental stream-of-consciousness lyricism. It's also one of the first songs in which he appears to be arguing with himself and reaching no real conclusion, both of which would become recurrent motifs in his work (and still are today).
And I'm on the train from New Street To Euston. I'm going out to Harrow again And I'm trying to get the feeling That I had in 1972. Oh but you're going too fast for me here, I'm saying, wait a minute there, wait a minute there Hold it, stop! Let me get this clear... (That's all there ever is) oh yeah yeah yeah? (That's all there ever was) yes, yes. Ha ha ha. (The same for everyone) Oh yes. Yes. Yes.
If ever there was a word crying out to be shoehorned into a Morrissey song, Maudlin was it. Apparently influenced by Joni Mitchell on this one, Moz remembers his first year as a teenager in miserably hilarious fashion. 7 and a half minutes of maudlin glory from his debut solo album, Viva Hate, recorded 29 years ago.
Don't leave your torch behind A powercut ahead; 1972, you know And so we crept through the park No, I cannot steal a pair of jeans off a clothesline For you But you ... without clothes Oh, I could not keep a straight face Me - without clothes ? Well, a nation turns its back and gags...
1. Josh Rouse - 1972
Josh Rouse was born in 1972 too. Back in 2002, to celebrate his 30th birthday, he wrote this song in tribute to the year of his birth. The album it came from was filled with lush 70s AM radio style pop. Harry Nilsson - the man who was at Number One in the UK Singles Chart on the day I entered this world - would surely approve.
She was feeling 1972 Grooving to a Carole King tune Is it too late, baby? Is it too late?
Was 1972 a good one for you? Or do you just remember it through song...?
Happy New Year from Top Ten Towers. After all the excitement of my 2015 countdown, we now return you to your regular programming: random Top Tens plucked from my record collection. Although the first tune this week kinda breaks that rule.
2016 is a leap year, which means there's one extra day. But although February will now have 29 days, there will be no 8 day weeks... no matter what the Beatles would have you believe. All of which is an extremely tenuous way of introducing this lot...
I was genuinely surprised to discover that there is NO Sting in my record collection. And, as this blog will often demonstrate, I have some UTTER TAT in my record collection. But no Sting. Yeah, I've got The Police, and a few random collaborations, but not one solo Sting tune. I'm not quite sure why. I mean, yes, I do consider him a bit of a tosser, but it's not as though I actively dislike him in the way I actively dislike Bono or the Gallaghers. (And I own music by all three of those idiots.) My favourite Sting song is his version of Spread A Little Happiness from the soundtrack to Brimstone & Treacle, but sadly (some kind of rights issue?), this has never featured on any Sting compilations... otherwise I might have been tempted to buy it.
Anyway, Sting's Seven Days is perfectly adequate Radio 2 filler, and it would have been churlish not to have given it at least a mention once I remembered it.
Frank Black might help re-establish my indie credentials a little. This doesn't sound anything like the Pixies, but it's unmistakably Black Francis. Strange, that.
When Camper Van Beethoven called it a day, David Lowery decided to play it a little more straight with his next band, Cracker. But the old lyrical oddities still crept in...
Bug's got a job in the Catskills
Met some Fraulein along the way
Took her home, but then she had an episode
Though it did disturb him, he was strangely compelled
Hours isn't a classic Bowie album, but this track wouldn't have been out of place on Ziggy Stardust. The guitar certainly has a Mick Ronson flavour. And even though the title doesn't mention days, the chorus does...
I've got seven days to live my life Or seven ways to die...
Feeder were always a band I kind of half-liked (always loved the singles) but I never bought any of their albums. My newfound love of charity-shopping (inspired, in part, by Charity Chic's excellent blog) has increased my Feeder collection greatly. All for a quid a pop! And they say CDs are dead...
Anyway, this one was obviously made for the US market. It's not a spiky as many of their earlier tracks, but the chunky, Blink 182-esque guitars are fun.
Freddie had a typically flamboyant way of playing the piano, perfectly demonstrated on the intro to this John Deacon-written album track from the 1978 album Jazz. I've got a lot of time for John Deacon, he seems the only surviving Queen member to have kept his self-respect intact, refusing to get involved in any of the band's ridiculous post-Freddie shenanigans.
Taken from the soundtrack of the justly forgotten 1986 "comedy" Club Paradise starring Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole (who was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor) and Jimmy Cliff himself. Not sure how they roped Elvis in, but the song still works well. I reckon Elvis's voice was at its absolute best around the mid-late 80s and it blends well with Jimmy's here. I first heard this as a bonus track on the special edition one of my favourite Costello albums, Blood & Chocolate.
A cover of the old Northern Soul song by Chuck Wood from 1967... and Chuck's is a pretty damned good version... but I just love me the Dexys. This is from their first ever album, which will soon be 36 years old.
Such facts make me feel ancient and very, very tired. A good way to start the new year.
1. Animals That Swim - Seven Days
Animals That Swim were a curiously beguiling little band formed in the late 80s, though this is from their third (and final... to date) album from 2001. They remind me a lot of the quirky, literate, real life indie written by Stuart Murdoch (Belle & Sebastian) or Shirley Lee (Spearmint). This song tells of a life counted off in ten year birthdays, beginning with my favourite kind of lyrical detail...
On my tenth birthday I danced naked on the lawn Making rain fall from a red watering can. On my twentieth birthday Slumped in the corner Wearing Rhiannon's make up and pearls Clamouring 'Give me attention, please!'
And thus it continues till the narrator abruptly expires on his seventieth, followed by a pithy observation about certain special birthdays...
It seems every time It gets easier and easier to die.
What a cheerful start to 2016! I'll see you all in 7 days. Or 6. Or 8. Depending.
